On April 23, Ambassador Manz attended the groundbreaking of voestalpine's direct reduction plant in Texas, where, after about a year of preparation, Wolfgang Eder, CEO of voestalpine, broke ground for the construction. This € 550 million (approx. $ 764 million) investment is the largest foreign investment in the history of the Austrian Group.

The voestalpine Texas LLC plant is being constructed at the La Quinta Trade Gateway Terminal in close proximity to the City of Corpus Christi.Starting in 2016, the plant will produce two million tons of high-quality, environmentally-friendly primary material HBI (Hot Briquetted Iron) and DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) annually and will supply Austrian locations, such as Linz and Donawitz, with "sponge iron." With the new facility, voestalpine can significantly reduce production costs in Europe. The highly automated plant will create 150 jobs.

One day prior, about 996 mile to the east, voestalpine AG also held a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of voestalpine Auto Body Parts Inc. in Cartersville, Georgia attended by dignitaries from Austria and the state of Georgia as well as the company's CEO Wolfgang Eder. When fully operational the first two phases of the plant will employ 220 workers.